


Fragile

by Cail



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cail/pseuds/Cail
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Have you ever wondered what it would be like if a robot fell in love with you?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fragile

It has been three years since you created an autoresponder from a copy of your brain. Two years since you gave in and built him a body. One year since you started to notice weird things about him. He lingers around you more often than you like, if you’re working he’s not far away. If you’re eating he’s watching you from the other room. He makes sure to send you to bed at a reasonable time, though you protest, but you give in after a while. He makes sure you eat, he even goes on the food raids so you don’t have to. It confuses you.

You have never called him on this, never pointed out how odd his behavior is considering your relationship. Though you have to admit, he has tried to build a friendship with you. Many times, but you never saw a need for it. He’s your AR, not your friend. He’s meant to serve you, not-   
Well, actually you don’t know how to finish that trail of thought, you just know it’s not supposed to be that way. 

When he touches you, it’s gentle, caring and fragile. You notice and shy away immediately. Everything about him irks you, you don’t know why. Why doesn’t he act like he talks. Why does he insist on trying to have something with you that’s stronger than creator and creation. Why can’t he just be your autoresponder, why does he need to be your friend?

You’ve noticed how he acts around Jake, and in all actuality, it’s humorous. He gets along with all your friends except Jake, he fights with him actually, and you can tell they don’t like each other. Or that’s what you assume? You tend not to think about it much, just try to grab English when he contacts you before your AR intercepts it. 

When you attempt to go to sleep you can hear him walking around for a while before he settles down and sits in front of your door. He does that every night, and you asked him about it, he only shrugged and walked away. You assume he’s trying to lock you in, though somewhere deep inside you knows he’s guarding the door for you. He doesn’t need sleep after all. Maybe it’s okay to have him do that, in case the drones come.

He has been doing all this for a year now, and you have started to get used to it. Started to develop a need for him to take care of you. Started getting into the rhythm of him bringing you food and pushing you off to bed. You won’t admit it, but you depend on him more than you want to.

You had been working on a program upgrade for Brobot all day when Hal grabbed your shoulder and shook you slightly. “Creator. Sleep.” You waved him off, you always wave him off, and he takes that as a cue to wait ten minutes and ask again. You finished up the line you were coding when he reaches out to shake you again. “Sleep.” You turn to glance at him before standing you, pushing away from your work desk without a word. He’d leave your stuff there for you to finish. You could go for a rest, your head was starting to kill.

You slowly make your way to your bedroom, peeling off your shirt and socks before crawling into your bed, wiggling close to the wall as you pull the blankets over you. Hal shuts the door behind you and shuffles off to do whatever it is he does while you drift off to sleep. 

Except, you can’t. 

Your head slowly gets worse, your chest is tight and under the warmth of the blankets you’re sweating. It’s not until you explode in a coughing fit that Hal’s knocking on your door. “Creator?” You want to tell him to go away, that you’re fine, but you can’t find your voice just yet. The door creaks open and his head pokes through, bright red eyes shining through the darkness directly over at you. “Are you sick?”

“It’s nothing serious, I just need to sleep.” He shifts, staying by the door, but still staring over at you. You sigh and turn to him. “What?” It almost hurt to talk and you regret even opening your mouth, but he seems to perk up, his posture changing enough for you to be able to tell. Before you can even open your mouth to send him off he’s crossing the room, stopping at the edge of your bed. He’s hesitating. You don’t want to talk, so you opt to just watch him, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, eyes asking the question your mouth won’t form. 

He ignores it, and just lifts his leg up, pulling his body into the bed and you immediately sit up to tell him to get the fuck out, but he puts his hand on your chest and wills you down. He’s gentle again, and the expression his face is trying to show looks almost like mock worry. You’ve never been sick before and he doesn’t know how to handle it. “This is not how you cure this.” You sigh, and all he does is push close and wraps his arms around your waist, staring up at you. 

“You don’t know that.” Maybe it’s the look he’s giving you, or how nice it feels to be held, but you relax, loosely throwing an arm around his shoulder and press your head more into your pillow. “No, but my theory against it is pretty solid.” He shrugs and presses into your chest. You’re finally starting to piece it all together, it’s finally clicking in your head that Hal cares for you, actually cares, and you’ve been stuck inside of your own self-hatred to realize. Even if you weren’t sick you’re sure you’d still feel this bad about this whole situation. 

You tighten your grip on him, leaning your chin into his hair and his body whirs in reaction. You’re not sure what that means, another thing you’ll have to figure out, but you can work with this. This is alright. 

“Thank you, Hal.”


End file.
